Underground fireproof vault



Feb. 24, 1953 F. w. DEAN UNDERGROUND FIREPROOF' VAULT Filed July 7, 1949F ay W. Dean JNVENTOR.

Patented Feb. 24, 1953 UNITED STATES FATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

The present invention relates to new and useful improvements in vaultsand more particu larly to a vault to be buried in the ground for use inconnection with homes or other buildings.

An important obect of the invention is to provide a vault completelyburied in the ground at the outside of a building to insure the contentsor the vault against loss by fire or other destructive forces, andembedding the opening of the vault in a basement wall to provide readyaccess to the contents of the vault from within the basement.

A further object of the invention is to provide a vault composed of acylindrical metal casing of a capacity for holding one or morecontainers within which various types of valuables may be placed andmounting the containers on a rack or carrier to facilitate removal ofthe containers from the vault.

Another object is to provide a vault of this character provided with aclosure locked in position in the outer end of the casing and alsoproviding a moisture-proof plug held in position by the closure toexclude moisture from the interior of the casing.

A still further object is to provide a device of this character ofsimple and practical construction, which is strong and durable,efficient and reliable in operation, relatively inexpensive tomanufacture and otherwise well adapted for the purposes for which thesame is intended.

Other objects and advantages reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming part hereof, wherein likenumerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of a building wallshowing the vault embedded therein and extending into the earth at theoutside of the wall;

Figure 2. is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view;

Figures 3 and. 4 are transverse sectional views taken respectively onthe lines 33 and 4- 1 of Figure 2; and

Figure 5 is a front elevational view.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, wherein for the purpose ofillustration I have disclosed a preferred embodiment of the invention,the numeral 5 designates a cylindrical metal casing which is closed atits inner end by an end Wall 6 welded or otherwise suitably secured inposition.

A plug l is threaded in the outer end of the casing 5 to provide aclosure therefor and is locked in position by a suitable key controlledlook 8 having a sliding bolt 9 which projects radially through anopening Ill in the plug 1 into a recess. l! formed in the wall of thecasing adjacent its outer end.

A hollow extension or chamber it is suitably secured to the inner sideof plug 1 and is packed with asbestos or other suitable insulationmaterial M.

The casing 5 is suitable for holding one or more cylindrical containersl5 supported in a wire rack or carrier l6 slidably positioned in thecasing to facilitate placing of the containers therein and removing thecontainers therefrom.

A wad or disk ll of suitable insulation mate rial is tightly fitted incasing 5 between plug extension 53 and container l 5 to further protectthe interior of the casing from the entrance of mois= ture, said diskbeing slidably removable out of said casing for access to said rack andcontainer.

The outer surface of plug 1 is provided with a plurality of wrenchengaging lugs E8 to enable the plug to be tightened in the outer end ofthe casing and to facilitate removal of the plug therefrom.

The casing 5 may be recessed in an opening it in the wall 213 of abuilding and the casing maybe embedded in a concrete housing 2| whichextends out from the wall into the earth 22, or the casing may beembedded directly in the earth.

The fire-proof and insulation packed extension i 3 at the inner side ofplug 1 will prevent the transmission of heat to the containers l5, evenshould the plug '5 become heated to a high degree by the burning of thebuilding and the provision of insulation disk ll behind plug extensionl3 and the embedding of the casing 5 in the manner indicated alsoprotects the contents thereof from damage by fire, water or otherdestructive forces.

In view of the foregoing description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, it is believed that a clear understanding of theconstruction, operation and advantages of the device will be quiteapparent to those skilled in this art. A more detailed description isaccordingly deemed unnecessary.

It is to be understood, however, that even though there is herein shownand described a preferred embodiment of the invention the same issusceptible to certain changes fully comprehended by the spirit of theinvention as herein described and the scope of the appended claim.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new 1s:

An underground vault comprising a cylindrical casing having a closedrear end and an open front end, a cylindrical container in said casing,a plug threaded into and closing the front end of the casing, a rackslidably positioned in the casing for supporting the container thereonfor movement of the container into and out of the casing with the rack,and a disk of insulation material siidably fitted tightly in the casingbetween said plug and rack, said disk being pressed by said plug intoengagement with said rack to confine the rack between said disk and therear end of the casing, and said disk being slidably removable out ofsaid casing for access to said rack and container.

/ FAY W. DEAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

4 UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Thomson Oct. 14, 1930 Schuknecht Oct.30, 1888 Lowrie Aug. 30, 1910 Casserly Aug. 29, 1911 Wiedeman et a1.Mar. 30, 1915 Ehrlich May 16, 1922 Carlson Dec. 29, 1925 Gaskill Jan.19, 1926 Werner et a1 May 28, 1929

